


A Matter of Family

by Fyo (Hotspur)



Category: Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF
Genre: Multi, This story took on a mind of its own, cassportus, how it started, polyamorous roman losers, primarily from Cassius's point of view
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 12:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2229162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hotspur/pseuds/Fyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cassius comes to terms with his emotions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Family

**Author's Note:**

> This started off just as a short story about Cassius finding out about Porcia's leg. It got out of hand. The state of Cassius's marriage to Junia is pure conjecture. 
> 
> I suppose this might help with the need for more Cassius/Porcia, eh, Cinna?

Cassius first saw the scar on Porcia’s leg a long time before the agreement between them and Brutus had been made. She’d been in Brutus’s study, away from the servants and others, bandaging her thigh. Cassius had just walked in, looking for Brutus.

“Agh!” Porcia jumped, covering her leg with her skirt in a hurry. “Go away!”

Cassius stared at her, shocked at what he’d just seen. She had a gash in her thigh that looked deep and painful. He’d noticed that when he saw her out with Brutus that she’d been shaking and looked sick, and Brutus had been holding her closer and more protectively than usual. “Are you alright?” he asked, against his better judgment.

“Get out of here!” Porcia screamed, throwing the nearest object, a wax tablet, at him. “You didn’t see anything!"

Cassius dodged the missile and ran out of the study, slamming the door behind him. Maybe the rumors were true. Maybe Porcia Catonis was crazy.

 

Cassius said nothing, not even to Brutus. Anyway, Brutus would have known by know about the injury in his wife’s thigh. It wasn’t Cassius’s business, but it was on his mind for days after the incident. He didn’t know why, but he was worried about her. He was beginning to feel a strange twinge when he saw her, but he shut that out. He already felt that way around the handsome and noble Brutus. He couldn’t feel that way about another man’s wife, especially since he already felt such a thing about the husband.  


Quite by accident, Cassius discovered that the annoying pang was love, and that he was in love with both Brutus and his wife Porcia. His marriage to Brutus’s sister, Junia, had been in a state of deterioration for over a year, and he found himself more drawn to his brother-in-law than ever before.

 

Porcia and Cassius were talking at a dinner one evening. He looked down at her as she discussed Aristotle- like Brutus, she was fascinated with philosophy and loved learning. After a few minutes, she stopped. “I’m sorry for screaming at you,” she said. It had been a week since the incident.

“That’s alright,” Cassius replied. “I shouldn’t have-“ shouldn’t have what? He hadn’t done anything wrong, just walked in on something he didn’t expect. “I’m worried about you,” he admitted. “I hope you’re, ah, feeling better."

“I am,” Porcia replied. “Thank you, Cassius.”

Brutus walked over to them and Cassius’s stomach twisted into a knot. The heir of the Junian legacy was so handsome. Porcia was very lucky indeed.

“Everything alright?” Brutus asked. He knew that his wife and brother-in-law generally did not get along. It wasn’t as violent and abusive as Porcia’s struggle with his mother, but all the same, the two were complete opposites.

“Yes, perfectly fine,” Cassius replied. “I’m just having a very interesting conversation with your charming wife.”

Brutus smiled and Cassius suppressed a shiver. “Cicero is looking for you,” Brutus said.

“Might as well go talk to the old windbag,” Cassius said. “Good bye for now, Porcia.” He stooped down and kissed her cheek innocently.

 

Things have a funny way of spreading through Rome. Graffiti appeared on the walls of the baths saying things about Brutus and Cassius. Servants washed them off but the hushed conversations of senators could not be removed. The word was that the brothers-in-law were in some relationship that wasn’t political. It wouldn’t be the first scandal attached to their families. Brutus had been greatly criticized for divorcing Claudia to marry his cousin, Cato’s daughter, after the old Stoic’s death. Junia Tertia, Cassius’s own wife, was widely rumored to be either a conquest of Caesar, or his daughter. Cassius had just grit his teeth through all the discussion of his wife’s affairs.

 

Now he said what he felt. It was some holiday and the family was together. Other members had gone on to some other room and Cassius was left in the garden alone with Brutus and Porcia.

“And the rumors and graffiti,” Brutus was saying. “They’re calling on my family name to do things I can’t."

“Are you more loyal to Caesar than you are to your family?” Cassius asked, looking down at the wine he’d been trying to drink all night. He’d lost his appetite and had barely eaten. Usually he was starving and ate a lot, due to what scientists thousands of years later would call a fast metabolism. Brutus made him light-headed and sick in his stomach, something Junia never made him. Seeing the way Brutus looked at Porcia made him sad- such tenderness and love. Cassius wanted a bit of it.

Brutus flinched at Cassius’s question. “Caesar has done a great deal for me,” he replied. “For that I am grateful. Are you forgetting that he pardoned you and you too joined him?”

“That doesn’t mean I worship him,” Cassius replied, bitterly. Brutus loved everyone- including Caesar- more than him.

“Caesar is popular,” Porcia said, “because he gives the people what they want. He does it though through military force elsewhere and his declaration of complete control. With that, I daresay he will ruin the Republic.” She realized what she was saying and bowed her head sheepishly. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s not my place.”

“No,” Cassius countered. “You're completely right. At last someone talks sense.”

“The safety of the Republic is paramount,” Brutus said. “But at what cost? Does the soldier still in you wish for another war?"

“We’re all that’s left of the Optimates,” Cassius said. “We’re together, whether you like it or not."

“Don’t fuel those gods-damn rumors,” Brutus growled.

“Are you really so mad about that?” Cassius asked. “That the people would insinuate that you’ve taken _me?_ ”

“Gods, why must every family gathering end like this?” Porcia groaned, rubbing her eyes. “You two are a disgrace, no matter what the people say.”

Brutus ignored her. “And where did the rumors start?” he snapped. “Cassius, I would have the people know that I’ve never spoke to you under any pretenses save business.”

“Where do such rumors start?” Cassius asked. “Who knows.” He leaped up from the small couch on which he’d reclined through this conversation.

“What are you getting at?” Brutus asked.

Cassius paced around, his arms crossed and an angry look on his sharp face. “I didn’t start the rumors or write the graffiti,” he said. “But it’s half true.”

Brutus’s head went cold and Porcia looked from her husband to Cassius.

“I love you, Brutus,” Cassius said. He turned to look at Porcia. “And I believe I may love you too, Porcia.” Feeling both relieved and burdened with something else, Cassius turned and walked away.

“Wait, Cassius!” Brutus called. Cassius looked back at them. Brutus stood up and walked over to Cassius, who was about to leave.

“I’m sorry,” Cassius said coldly, trying to show no emotion. “I’m sorry to both you and Porcia.”

“I told him,” Porcia said, getting up as well and going to stand with her husband. “About how you found me and said you worried for me.”

Cassius blinked. “I say that as a family member."

“Cassius, you know I love Porcia,” Brutus said. “I cannot go back on that.”

“And as I said, I apologize, it is not my place to express any-“

“Shut up,” Brutus said. “I love you too. I love both of you.”

Cassius stared at Brutus, shocked.

Porcia shrugged. “I suppose I can handle you both,” she said.

Cassius couldn’t stop himself. He moved forward and held Brutus by the back of his head and kissed him. He’d wanted to do that for too long now. He broke away and then kissed Porcia in the same way, both kisses in gentle worship. He felt Brutus wrap his arms around him from behind, and Porcia the same in front of him. He could get used to this.


End file.
